US Marine Helicopter Wreckage Spotted Near Chinese Border; 3 Bodies Found

Update as of 4:32 a.m. EDT: Nepal's Defense Secretary Iswori Poudyal said Friday that there were no chances of survivors from the U.S. Marine helicopter that had been missing since Tuesday. The UH-1 Huey chopper's wreckage was found on Friday by rescuers.

The plane went missing with six U.S. Marines and two Nepali soldiers after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck the region.

"The search for others is continuing. As the helicopter has broken into pieces and totally crashed there is no chance of any survivors," Poudyal said, according to Reuters.

Update as of 3:10 a.m. EDT: Nepal's Defense Secretary Iswori Poudyal said that three bodies have been found at the site of the wreckage of a U.S. Marine helicopter spotted in the district of Dolakha on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

The aircraft had gone missing after Tuesday’s earthquake in Nepal and was carrying six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese army officials. The UH-1 Huey chopper was conducting relief work in the town of Charikot, when a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

Original Story:

Nepal’s army on Friday said it has found the wreckage of the U.S. army helicopter that went missing with six U.S. Marines and two Nepali army soldiers on Tuesday. The helicopter was one of the choppers conducting relief work in Charikot town, about 81 miles from the capital Kathmandu, after the region was hit by an earthquake and a series of aftershocks.

The status of the people on board the UH-1 Huey chopper was not known immediately, according to the Telegraph. The chopper had gone missing when an earthquake measuring 7.3 magnitude on Richter scale hit the region on Tuesday, less than three weeks after the 7.8-magnitude quake killed over 8,000 people in the country.

A report by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) said that the helicopter was found near the Chinese border.

"We don't know if there are any survivors, we have yet to confirm that. We have sighted the wreckage from the air, we are now trying to land in the area and get more information," Major General Binoj Basnet told AFP.

On Thursday, a drone was employed to search for the plane, after Wednesday's aerial search failed to make any progress. There were also reports on Wednesday, citing the Major Rajan Dahal, second-in-command of the Barda Bahadur Batallion, that the chopper was suspected of going down in a river in Charikot.